Mozart's Requiem to be performed minus melodrama of Hollywood

Apr. 16, 2008

*DIGITAL IMAGE* *PLEASE DO NOT CROP* 9/22/03. New conductor Theodore Kuchar conducts the Reno Chamber Orshestra in a rehearsal at North Valleys High School on Monday, Sept. 22, 2003. Photo by David B. Parker. / David B. Parker/Reno Gazette-Journal

In Hollywood circles, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem Mass in D Minor is the result of a devious murder scheme, the final work of a musical madman condemned to death by his less-talented rival. But Hollywood and history rarely mix.

The 1984 movie "Amadeus," which famously portrayed Mozart's life, death and frantic attempts to complete the Requiem, is by all accounts a great movie. But it's portrayal of Antonio Saliere as a Mozart rival is "» well "» fiction.

Folks looking for a more reasoned approach to Mozart will find such when the Reno Chamber Orchestra presents the Requiem, minus the Saliere melodrama, during two performances at Immaculate Conception Church this weekend.

Mystery does surround the Requiem, a mass for the dead that Mozart had only partially written at the time of his death, but it was not commissioned as part of a sick gesture by Saliere, as depicted in "Amadeus." In fact, there's no evidence to suggest that Saliere had strong feelings about the famed composer one way or another.

"Saliere's operas "» were really popular during his lifetime," said Reno Chamber Orchestra operations manager Chris Morrison. "He didn't have too much reason to be jealous because he experienced, personally, a whole lot of success. It's just over the decades and centuries, Saliere's star has faded."

The Requiem was actually commissioned by Franz von Walsegg, a count and amateur musician who reportedly passed the piece off as his own. Although most modern folks learned of the fictional Mozart-Saliere feud through Peter Shaffer's "Amadeus" stage play or the immensely popular screen adaptation, rumors of murder were floating around long before those works were completed. Morrison said they may have been floated shortly after the composer's death, and they took hold when Russian writer Alexander Pushkin introduced them into his play "Mozart and Saliere."

Some fault for the mystery surrounding the Requiem belongs to Mozart's widow, Constanze. Because the composer had not been fully paid for the work at the time of his death, she had it completed by another composer -- Franz Xaver Süssmayr -- but she supposedly downplayed his contributions in order to receive better pay. Morrison estimates that approximately 70 percent of the composition was written by Mozart, but the exact figure is unknown.

One thing everyone agrees on is that the piece is one of the most beloved in classical music. Underscoring this point is the fact that it was played at the funeral services of Haydn and Beethoven.

"It's an absolute masterpiece. No one denies that," said chamber orchestra executive director Scott Faulkner. "Mozart's music is so dramatic. "» Even in a requiem Mass for the dead, there are all kinds of extremes of just pure beauty and sort of aggressiveness and fire and brimstone."

Because the Requiem is a choral composition, the orchestra is teaming with the University of Nevada, Reno Symphonic Choir for the performance, and director Duane R. Karna said it's been a test for his singers.

"There are some really lovely lyrical parts that are easily sung and very accessible," he said. "But there are also some very difficult sections. "» It's been a real challenge to the choir to rise to the occasion, so I'm very proud of what they've done."

Approximately 70 singers, including four soloists, will perform on the Requiem, which is being presented as a tribute to Dr. Gilbert Lenz, a long-time orchestra supporter who died in February.

The concert is being performed at Immaculate Conception rather than the chamber orchestra's normal concert venue -- Nightingale Hall -- in part because the church setting is closer to what Mozart would have imagined. But, Karna said, the venue change also offers sonic rewards.

"There's no question about the sound being different from Nightingale," he said. "(Immaculate Conception) is a lovely place to sing. "» Not only will the choir be enhanced by the acoustics, but I think the orchestra will be, too."